Disposable mop assembly and method of forming disposable mophead therefor

ABSTRACT

A web of canvas backing material is continuously unreeled for tufting with yarn whose ends are sheared to form the mop strands with the canvas backing receiving a thick vinyl layer which is cured thereto prior to transversely severing of the finished web laminate to form individual disposable mophead. A thin metal plate removably coupled to the mophead carries a simplified universal joint which connects the same to the mop handle.

United States Patent James M. Runes P.O. Box 13377, Atlanta, Ga. 30324 870,491

Oct. 8, 1969 Dec. 7, 197 1 Inventor Appl. No. Filed Patented DISPOSABLE MOP ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF FORMING DISPOSABLE MOPHEAD THEREFOR 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 300/21 Int. Cl A46d 1/08 Field of Search 300/21; 161/67 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1946 Dow etal 16l/67X 3,342,533 9/1967 Engeletal. 3,354,491 11/1967 SchlegeLJr.

Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. Att0rney-Robert G. McMorrow ABSTRACT: A web of canvas backing material is continuously unreeled for tufting with yarn whose ends are sheared to form the mop strands with the canvas backing receiving a thick vinyl layer which is cured thereto prior to transversely severing of the finished web laminate to form individual disposable mophead. A thin metal plate removably coupled to the mophead carries a simplified universal joint which connects the same to the mop handle.

PATENTED utc 7 l87| SHEEI 1 OF 2 ww it DISPOSABLE MOP ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF FORMING DISPOSABLE MOPI-IEAD THEREFOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1; Field of the Invention This invention relates to dust mops or the like and more particularly to an improved mop assembly which incorporates a specially formed disposable mophead.

2. Description of the Prior Art Conventional dust mops or the like generally involve wooden mop handles which are pivotally coupled at one end to support means holding a nondisposable mophead. In such permanent mop assemblies, once the mop material, such as a plurality of strands of yarn, are worn out, the whole assembly or unit must be thrown away. Permanent mop assemblies have been replaced, in general, by disposable assemblies wherein the mophead includes means for removably coupling a number of strands of yarn to one end to the mop handle. In the most simplified case, the disposable mophead comprises great numbers of strands of yarn as a unitary element which in itself is directly coupled to the support member which in turn is fixed to the mop handle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is directed to a disposable mop assemblyand in particular to a low-cost, disposable mophead and its method of coupling to the end of the mop handle to form an improved mop assembly providing universal movement between the mop handle and the mophead. The disposable mophead comprises a rectangular laminate assembly consisting of a relatively thick vinyl layer, heat cured to canvas backing which carries a number of yarn tufts which are sewn into the backing material prior to laminating the backing material to the vinyl layer. A rectangular rigid plate of similar dimension to the laminate mophead carries holes allowing bolting of the formed disposable mophead to the support plate. The plate carries a pair of longitudinally spaced, upstanding apertures ears integral with the plate and struck out therefrom. A formed sheet member having oppositely directed ears and set at right angles to each other carries holes within the ears of this member, one set of which are aligned with the holes in the ears in the base plate and coupled therewith by a first bolt. A second bolt passes through the opposed holes of the other pair of cars and through a transverse hole provided in one end of the mop handle thus effecting a simplified, universal joint to facilitate use of the mop. Preferably, wing nuts and bolts couple the base plate to the preformed disposable mophead.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. IA is a side elevational view of one portion of the apparatus for forming the improved disposable mophead of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is an elevational view of another portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the improved low-cost disposable mophead of the present invention manufactured by the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1A and 18.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the improved mop assembly of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the assembly shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, it is noted that the improved, low-cost disposable mopheads l0, consist essentially of a great number of yarn tufts 12 which are sewn into a canvas backing material 14 which is in turn laminated to a rather thick layer 16 of a vinyl plastic or the like. The disposable mophead I0 is manufactured under the improved method of the present invention by a manufacturing apparatus, portions of which appear in FIGS. 1A and 18. It is noted that the apparatus constitutes automated machinery forming a single assembly line. This manufacturing apparatus 20 consists at its leading end in a yarn rack 22 supported on floor 24 of a manufacturing plant or the like and carrying a plurality of spools of yarn 26 with the individual yarn filaments 28 being fed therefrom and passed through guide means 30 toward a rather large table 32 which is positioned to one side thereof. The

table 32 carries on table top '34, tufting machine 31 including vertical supports 36 which, in conjunction with transverse or lateral supports 38, fixedly position a plurality of plastic guide tubes 40, one for each filament 28 of yarn passing from its respective spool 26. In conjunction therewith, conventional tufting needles such as needle 42 sew the yarn filaments 28 by passing them progressively through a web 44 of canvas or other backing material which is fed in continuous fashion from roll 46 supported by spool 41 on rack 50. Again, the rack 50 rests on the floor 24 of the building, As the web continues to move in the direction of arrow 52, the yarn is sewn into or stitched onto the web 44 and as the web moves forwardly, it encounters a cutter blade 54 which is schematically represented as shearing off the loop ends 56 of the yarn to form tufts 60, the ends 56 falling to the floor 24. The web 44 then moves next to a reversing station indicated generally at 59 where the web is turned over such that the tufts 60 extend upwardly prior to movement of the web into the laminating station indicated generally at 62. This station is provided with a continuously moving conveyor belt 64 supported by one or more rollers 66 at the forward end. The rollers are mounted for rotation about an axis 68 at some height above floor 24, the height being defined by vertical supports 70. The conveyor belt 66 is preferably formed of fiber glass and the laminating station is provided with a fixed tank 72 mounted some distance above the conveyor belt 64 and carrying liquid vinyl 74. A pipe or discharge conduit 76 depends therefrom and the flow of liquid vinyl is controlled (by means not shown) such that a stream of liquid vinyl 76 contacts the surface of the fiber glass conveyor belt which is moving in the direction of arrow 78 to form a pool behind the doctor bar or blade 80. The doctor blade meters the thickness of vinyl which is extruded between the doctor blade 80 and the surface of the fiber glass conveyor belt 64 to form a layer of vinyl of a given thickness D. The movement of the fiber glass conveyor belt 64 corresponds to the movement of the web 44 and this web is directed across a guide roller 82 above belt 64 in such a manner that the'tufted web makes contact with the vinyl layer 76 downstream of doctor blade 80.

As indicated in FIG. 1B, the laminate structure consisting of tufted web 44 and vinyl layer 76 moves into a heated oven 84 for curing of the vinyl layer '76 onto the opposite side of the backing material from tufts 60. The completed product is discharged from oven 84 at the discharge end of conveyor roller 86. The completed web product moves into a cutting area 88 downstream thereof. At cutting station 88, a cutting blade 90 reciprocates in the manner of arrow 92 to sever the laminate into individual disposable mopheads or mop elements 10. If the web is of sufficient width, additional reciprocating blades (not shown) may be used to longitudinally sever the web either simultaneously or subsequent to transverse severing by reciprocating blade 90. The formed mopheads 10 continue to move across a support table 94 for automatic or manual removal.

In general, the process may be described in three steps in which, in step one, the individual filaments of yarn are fed from respective spools carried by the yarn rack and fed to the tufting machine where the yarn tufts are sewn into the web with the looped ends severed by the cutter blade. The second step comprises moving the tufted web to the laminating station after reversing the web position such that the yarn tufts extend upwardly from the upper surface of the backing web. In this step, liquid vinyl is deposited on a continuously moving fiber glass conveyor belt and metered by a transversely extending doctor bar or blade to level the vinyl to a correct thickness whereupon the untufted side of the backing material is moved into contact with the extruded vinyl layer and the laminated assembly is passed through a heated oven where the vinyl is bonded to the backing material to form unitary solid laminate. The third step is the severing of the laminate material on the cutting table to form individual mopheads by either a transverse or transverse and longitudinal slitting process as is necessary.

An important aspect of the present invention is the improved disposable mop assembly which makes use of the disposable mopheads manufactured by the apparatus under the process previously described. Turning to H65. 3, 4, and 5, a preferred embodiment of the disposable mop assembly includes the disposable mopheads incorporating the vinyl layer in thin rectangular block form as at 16, with the thinner backing material 14 which carries the multiple yarn tufts 12 extending downwardly therefrom. Preferably, two holes 102 are drilled through the vinyl layer 16 and the backing material 14 and threaded bolts 104 are passed therethrough with their head ends 106 contacting the tufted side of the backing material 14. A thin metal base plate 108 carries apertures or holes 1 10 corresponding to bolt holes 102 and has dimensions corresponding to those of the rectangular mophead 10. The mophead 10 is thus readily and removably coupled to the base plate 108 by means of wing nuts 112. A pair of ears 114 are struck up from base plate 108, the ears being apertures at 116 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the assembly. A thin sheet metal coupling plate 118 is provided with oppositely directed pairs of ears 120 and 122 at right angles to each other, the ears 120 being provided with respective holes or apertures 124 which are opposed and axially aligned with apertures 116 of ears 114 during assembly. In like manner, ears 122 carry opposed openings or apertures 126. A rather long through bolt 128 extends through holes 116 and 124 of base plate 108 and coupling plate 118 respectively, to form a pivot axis for plate 118 with respect to base plate 108. A threaded nut 130 is coupled to the threaded end of the bolt 128. Bolt 132 extends at right angles to bolt 128 is pivotably coupled at 126 to a preformed, apertured cylindrical coupling member 134 carried at the bottom end of mop handle 136. In this respect, the coupling 134 includes a bore 138 which receives the threaded bolt 132. Preferably, a nut 40 similar to threaded nut 130 completes this assembly. It is important to note as best evidenced in FIGS. 4 and 5, that a simplified universal joint is formed by the base plate 108, the intermediate coupling plate 118 and the cylindrical coupling member 134 carried in the end of the mop handle 136. The universal joint in no way affects the removable coupling between the preformed disposable mophead l0 and the remaining elements of the mop assembly and removal and replacement of the mop head may be readily achieved by the mere removal of wing nuts 112 which couple mophead 10 to the bottom of base plate 108.

What is claimed: 1. A method of forming an improved, disposable mophead comprising the steps of:

continuously moving a web of backing material from a supply thereof; sewing loops of yarn progressively through the web with the loops elongated on the bottom side of the web and tightly engaged against the top side of the web; severing the ends of the loops on said bottom side to provide tufts depending therefrom; reversing the web whereby the tufts project upwardly; continuously depositing liquid vinyl on a movable conveyor and leveling said vinyl to a selected uniform thickness thereon; moving said top side of said web into contact with said leveled vinyl and continuing movement of the web, the conveyor and the vinyl in unison; and heat bonding said vinyl to said last named side of said web in a layer of uniform thickness. 2. The invention of claim 1, and: transversely severing the web into substantially rectangular blocks following said heat bon ding. 

1. A method of forming an improved, disposable mophead comprising the steps of: continuousLy moving a web of backing material from a supply thereof; sewing loops of yarn progressively through the web with the loops elongated on the bottom side of the web and tightly engaged against the top side of the web; severing the ends of the loops on said bottom side to provide tufts depending therefrom; reversing the web whereby the tufts project upwardly; continuously depositing liquid vinyl on a movable conveyor and leveling said vinyl to a selected uniform thickness thereon; moving said top side of said web into contact with said leveled vinyl and continuing movement of the web, the conveyor and the vinyl in unison; and heat bonding said vinyl to said last named side of said web in a layer of uniform thickness.
 2. The invention of claim 1, and: transversely severing the web into substantially rectangular blocks following said heat bonding. 